Taylor Swift Made Everyone Rich — Including Her Enemies
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Lakers 2024-25 season player grades: Jaxson Hayes
For the last few seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers have been weak at the center position, even though for most of that time, they boasted Anthony Davis, one of the NBA's very best big men. But once Davis was sent to the Dallas Mavericks in order to acquire Luka Doncic, the Lakers' lack of viable centers was put under a microscope. They have had to make do with Jaxson Hayes as perhaps the only playable true center on their roster over the last two seasons. He has done well at times, but over the last few months, it has become beyond clear that he has been miscast as a starting center. Jaxson Hayes' season stats In 56 regular-season games, Hayes averaged 6.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 19.5 minutes a game. In the first round of the NBA playoffs, he averaged 1.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.3 blocks in 7.8 minutes a game. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle Overall analysis Once Davis left and Doncic arrived, Hayes saw his playing time increase. Doncic has thrived in the past while playing alongside big men who are lob threats near the rim, and for a while, it looked like Hayes could do well while playing that role. His scoring and shooting percentage ticked up in February and March, and there was some hope that the Lakers could contend for the NBA championship with him starting at the 5. However, Hayes and the team got exposed in the first round of the playoffs versus the Minnesota Timberwolves. Hayes' playing time diminished greatly, and he got onto the court for a total of just 31 minutes. He didn't play at all in Game 5 when Los Angeles was eliminated from the postseason, and some have questioned that decision by head coach JJ Redick, especially since Rudy Gobert went off for 27 points and 24 rebounds in that contest. The reality is that while Hayes can bring some energy on the court, he simply lacks the girth and strength to effectively box out or play high-level positional defense in the paint. His energy and effort also seem to wax and wane on a game-to-game basis. The Lakers badly need a starting-level center who will rebound, defend, protect the rim and run the floor in transition. But there is now a feeling that they also need a viable backup center who can play about 15-20 minutes a game. In other words, perhaps Hayes isn't even capable of being a second-string center on a contending team. What's next for Hayes? Hayes will be a free agent at the end of the league year in a few weeks. According to a recent report by one insider, he's unhappy with the reduction in his playing time, and there is only an "outside chance" of Hayes sticking around. If Los Angeles wants to keep him, he should be inexpensive. But the team will be in trouble if it has to rely on him to play more than about 15-18 minutes a game. Overall grade: C/C-plus
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
JPMorgan Banker Warns of Silicon Valley Trap for Clean Tech
(Bloomberg) -- The venture capital model honed and perfected in Silicon Valley is proving a bad fit for the clean tech industry, and investors should instead accept that they'll need to commit much bigger sums of money for longer periods of time. Where the Wild Children's Museums Are Billionaire Steve Cohen Wants NY to Expand Taxpayer-Backed Ferry The Economic Benefits of Paying Workers to Move At London's New Design Museum, Visitors Get Hands-On Access LA City Council Passes Budget That Trims Police, Fire Spending 'In traditional VC, the model is to make 100 bets, 90 of which will completely fail, and of the 10 remaining maybe a couple will have real exponential growth,' JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Rama Variankaval said in an interview. However, 'the amount of capital you'd need to replicate that in climate is enormous, so you might need to accept a revised model where you are picking fewer, more concentrated bets.' The warning from Variankaval, whose role as global head of corporate advisory includes running JPMorgan's Center for Carbon Transition, has serious implications for the trajectory of climate change. More than $200 trillion needs to be invested in the transition to net zero over the next three decades to avoid catastrophic temperature rises, BloombergNEF estimates. Spending last year, meanwhile, was just over $2 trillion. Most of the money — both public and private — flowing into the low-carbon transition is going toward electrified transport, renewable energy and power grids, BNEF's analysis shows. Those are capital-intensive sectors that require committed capital. That's in contrast to the 'asset-light businesses' to which venture capital is best suited, Variankaval said. 'If you are investing in a software business and you put in $10 million, the need for additional capital from this company might not be high,' Variankaval said. 'But $10 million in a climate tech company doesn't get you a whole lot of runway.' Of the $270 billion of energy transition-focused private capital raised between 2017 and 2022, venture capital accounted for $120 billion, or 43%, while private equity and infrastructure-focused funds raised $100 billion, or 37%, according to a September 2023 report by S2G, a firm that focuses on venture and growth-stage businesses. Fresh examples include climate tech investment firm Energize Capital, which just raised $430 million for a new fund targeting early-stage startups working on projects like new batteries and software for the electric grid. Clean tech was particularly vulnerable to the rapid surge in interest rates that started in early 2022, with much of the capital-intensive green sector brought to its knees in the period that followed. Over the past three years, the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index has lost almost 40% of its value, compared with a gain of more than 40% in the S&P 500 Index. 'The problem is investors are very segmented,' Variankaval said. 'Different investor groups have different risk-reward preferences, and for the most part a lot of the transition theme falls in the gap between various pockets of capital,' in what's known as 'the missing middle.' Other banks have offered similar warnings. Barclays Plc, which has called on the UK government to address the funding challenge facing companies in low-carbon industries, said in a recent report that climate tech companies face 'a longer and riskier path to profitability' because they tend to be 'capital expenditure-intensive, with high upfront investments required in plant and equipment.' It's clear 'what success looks like,' Variankaval said. 'It's project finance, it's infrastructure. That's where we need to get to, because that's the right cost of capital for a lot of these projects and companies.' Meanwhile, the Trump administration has made a point of withdrawing support from clean energy and instead doubling down on fossil fuels. Though the approach has angered many climate investors, Variankaval suggests it has also helped clarify which technologies have the most potential. The sense now is that 'winners and losers have been more directly identified,' he said. 'It seems like nuclear and geothermal might be more in the winner camp and things like hydrogen might not be. In a way, that helps investors to say, 'Okay I feel like I can have a bit more focus and I know policy support will continue for these couple technologies'.' Demand for nuclear energy was underscored on Tuesday, with an announcement that Meta Platforms Inc. has entered a deal to buy power from Constellation Energy Corp. The agreement marks the latest example of Big Tech tapping an energy form that's available around the clock and that doesn't release greenhouse-gas emissions. There are also some green technologies 'that we can see will continue to have quite solid policy support, maybe even increased support,' Variankaval said. 'In some ways, that's helpful because you're focusing now on maybe two or three things.' The bottom line, though, is that 'climate risk is real,' Variankaval said. 'You're living with the consequences every day, and it's a problem that has negative consequences if left unaddressed. That story does not change in my mind because of either economic cycles or political cycles.' (Adds references to Meta purchase of power from Constellation, and Energize VC fund.) YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back? Trump Considers Deporting Migrants to Rwanda After the UK Decides Not To Will Small Business Owners Knock Down Trump's Mighty Tariffs? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Why Founders Who Keep Going Are The Real Start-Up Heroes
Chronicle co-founders Mayuresh Patole and Tejas Gawande Founders sometimes make it sound as if starting a business is easy. There are endless stories about entrepreneurs who had a moment of inspiration, raised plenty of capital and built valuable businesses, seemingly in a flash. But what about all the founders who spend years struggling to turn their visions into reality? One recent study found that getting a business off the ground is so stressful and exhausting that 72% of entrepreneurs are grappling with mental health issues. Mayuresh Patole, the founder of presentation software start-up Chronicle, thinks we should talk more readily about the grind of building a business. 'Everyone shares overnight success stories, but not many people talk honestly about the messy middle,' he says. And, by his own admission, the San Francisco-based businesss's journey to date has been rather messy. After Patole quit the consultancy BCG four years ago, he quickly raised money to get Chronicle off the ground – I last spoke to the company just after it had picked up $7.5 million of funding from Accel and Square Peg. But he felt compelled to scrap the first three iterations of his product because he didn't think they worked. He describes the original version of Chronicle as a 'total waste of time'; even on the third version, he 'got the technical foundations wrong'. The good news, Patole believes, is that perseverance pays off. Chronicle is today launching the latest version of its software in public beta, opening up the fourth generation of the product for anyone to try. He's confident people will like it – the private beta Chronicle has been running for the past six months has attracted 100,000 sign-ups. Users have ranged from students preparing presentations for university work to marketing executives at blue-chip enterprises including Nike, IBM and the large consulting firms. 'We've built something different and that has taken some time to get right,' Patole says. 'It feels like we're now finally at the start of our journey.' Co-founder Tejas Gawande agrees – and argues that Chronicle's timing is also spot on. 'What worked in presentations a decade ago falls completely flat today,' Tejas explains. 'Modern audiences are trained by social media to expect information that's visual, scannable and high-impact.' Chronicle's pitch is that its software enables people to build presentations that deliver those imperatives much more easily. It relies on 'widgets' as the building block for presentations, offering interactive and media-rich designs to help users get away from the traditional slide-based decks that are so widely used today. 'We use artificial intelligence to help you build really powerful presentations,' Patole says. 'It's like having an intelligent partner that actively contributes to the process.' Will the latest version of Chronicle have the impact that Patole hopes for? Despite his confidence, the jury is out. For one thing, the shadow of Microsoft's PowerPoint looms as large as ever – not everyone is a fan of the IT giant's presentation software, first launched almost 40 years ago, but it is ubiquitous; any new player in this space is confronted by this reality. Moreover, while Patole and Gawande have been struggling to perfect Chronicle, a significant number of other start-ups have also launched in the space. In February, for example, Accel, one of Chronicle's backers, put $3 million into an Indian start-up that offers AI-supported presentation software. Competitors in the market, including PitchAvatar, SlideDog, Prezi, CustomShow and ClearSlide, all have growing fanbases. Still, the market continues to grow, leaving the door open to start-ups that can convince users of their merits – and that they offer something different. Market research group ResearchandMarkets says the global presentation software market was worth $6.8 billion in 2023 but expects that to grow almost 15% a year to $15.7 billion by 2029. 'Key drivers include the proliferation of remote work and virtual collaboration, which have heightened the reliance on digital platforms for communication and information sharing,' the analyst says. Innovators in the sector believe a new approach to presentations is necessary because people now want to consume information in different ways – and because holding their attention is getting harder. Research published by King's College London found that 49% of people believe their attention spans have become shorter. Patole believes that Chronicle can take advantage of such trends – and that by having the patience to keep going back to the drawing board, the business has ended up with the right product. 'We've stayed true to our original mission to ensure that users never end up with a bad presentation,' he says. Not every start-up succeeds, but Patole believes Chronicle can prove that the tough times are worth it. 'The last four years have been a wild ride of learning,' he says.
